Note: Most
persons places and things in this fanfic are probably owned by
Squaresoft inc.
so please don't sue.
Kain and Dawne looked up at the
monstrous tower looming before them. At
the top of the tower they could now clearly make out who the statue at the top
was; Cecil in all of his glory, holding above his head the crystal sword that
vanquished Zeromus. Seeing that gave
Kain increased the amount of rage, rage that was already towering within him.
Dawne looked at Kain's face, it was
not showing the inferno inside of him, all that it openly revealed, was
granite. "Kain, are you sure you want
to do this now, I mean we can just walk back and prepare more for this. This is the most highly guarded building in
the world. We might do for some more
preparation."
Kain just looked back at Dawn's
face, and then began to walk toward the entry gate to the Tower. Dawne rushed to catch up with him.
["Stay behind me at all costs Dawne,
at all costs. In fact don't even let
them see you. I can take bullets in the
chest with my armor, but you can't." Kain told Dawne as they sat at their hotel room's table.
"You talk to me as though I were a
coward, a thief, or an infant, I am none of those things Kain, and I am a
caller. Probably the most powerful of
all callers now, so don't you dare tell me to stay in the back." Dawne told Kain, and suddenly a thought
crossed Kain's mind; yet she can't kill a tiny spider.
"Dawne," Kain started calmly. "Cecil told the exact same thing to Rosa;
and Edge told the exact same thing to Rydia. Now I tell this to you, not because you're a coward, or a thief, or any
of those other things, but because you are a caller." Kain stopped to look her in the eyes so that he could better
appeal to her sense of logic. "You are
a mage, and in all military formations, mages are put in the back ranks. I used to be a tactician, remember, so trust
me. I'm not telling you this because
you're weak, but because that is how things are done." Kain ended trying to make his voice sound as
hard as the point he had just made.
"Very well, but I just want you to
know that I'm going to be fighting just as hard as you, if not harder. You have no idea how hard it is to summon or
cast." Dawne said trying to aid a
retort to her submission.
"No I don't."]
Kain, with his trench coat hanging
around him and a mask over his face, looked at the man behind the glass who was
busy watching the security cameras. "I
need to get in." Was all Kain said.
The man turned around to see who it
was. When he did see his face became
filled with horror. "Your that guy from
the news and..."
"And if you don't open that gate
right now, you are going to die, it's just that simple. How much do you love your guardian?" Kain asked with a calm fury backing his
voice.
"I never saw you," The gate
opened. "Whoever you are."
Kain looked at the man one last time
and said, "If any kind of alarm goes off in there and I find out it's your
fault, you die." And with that Kain
went through the gate and into the Tower in a root as straight as any of Rosa's
bowshots. Dawne followed him, moving
from shadow to shadow.
["At every point where it will be
necessary I will try to divert anyone's attention. That way no one will even notice you Dawne." Kain said, sounding like to her like her
father.]
The main room of the tower looked to
be four hallways that opened up in the center to an information center, or a
clerk's desk, or whatever it was.
Kain approached the clerk at the
front desk of the tower. "Where is the
nearest elevator?" The clerk who was
already talking on the phone with someone else didn't even see Kain but pointed
to her right. "Thank you." Kain replied.
As Kain walked downward through one
of the halls two guard came towards him. Both looked quite formidable, tall, muscle bound, and looking none to
bright. One looked Kain up and down and
then asked. "This guy look familiar to
you Fred."
"Slightly Transkandasia."
"What's your name, boy?"
"They call me Kain."
"Kain," Fred said with a few
questions in his small mind. "Kain
who."
"Kain, servant of the Guardian. Now let me through or I shall have both of
your hides for breakfast. Or actually
it's closer to noon, so lunch, yes lunch."
Both guards now looked terribly
confused and they both made room for Kain to pass by them. They both watched him walk towards the
elevator and neither noticed the young women that shadowed him.
"That was close, o' servant of the
Guardian." Dawne said mockingly.
["Kain, I think it would be unwise
to attack anyone until we get to the crystal. It think if we did they might be able to shut off the elevator's and
then where would we be?" Dawne asked
Kain.]
"It worked didn't it." Kain whispered to Dawne, though both were
staring at the elevator door so that no one would think they were talking to
each other.
Suddenly a ding was heard as the
elevator doors opened and three men stepped out. All three had the grayness about them. Kain, who had removed his mask on entering the Tower, turned his
face to the ground thinking, "I cannot be found out, I will not fail."
The three gray men passed Kain by
without even a look at either of their faces. Kain and Dawne entered into the elevator with him. Kain scanned the buttons on the elevator's side. Deciding that if he was the leader of the
world he would put something of immense value in the basement. But, then again, Kain had heard quite a bit
the Guardian's feeling of invulnerability and as such he would probably put the
crystal at the top so that all eyes could see his magnificent, or something to
that effect. As such, Kain pressed to
button numbered, 89. The highest floor
reachable by this elevator. But Kain
would wager that it wasn't the highest floor in the tower.
The elevator doors closed and Kain
and Dawne began their accent. Dawne
looked at Kain and said. "When we get
up there they will ask us for I.D., you know that don't you?" Kain nodded. "Well then, what are we going to do about that?"
"How would you like to distract
them, Dawne?" Kain asked.
"You're just coming up with this as
you go along aren't you."
"I don't need a plan, just a
goal. The rest will follow." Kain said, Dawne giggled at him. "What?"
"You're just too series. You're too caught up with trying to be a
hero of legend that you're forgetting to be human." Kain gave a slight growl at that remark.
"Look Dawne, if you really wanted
you could summon someone else to do the distracting for you." With that Dawne smiled.
After about another minute the door
opened to a very small room with two doors behind on very large desk with two
women behind computer terminals working away. On the side of both doors were four guards, and not just ordinary
guards, gray guards. As Kain surveyed
the room he heard Dawne mumbling something aracanic and then a shape
materialized behind them in the elevator and stepped out. A woman who was about two inches shorter
then Kain, she was wearing what looked to be full queen regalia. She whispered something into Dawne's ear,
and then Dawne whispered something back. Kain couldn't tell exactly what was said but he had a very strong
notion.
"Asura, good to see you again." Kain said to the woman as she passed them
by. Asura turned her head around looked
into Kain's eyes and then nodded and began to approach a pair of guards on one
side of the elevator. Kain and Dawne
began to follow her. Though she turned
around and gave a facial signal to them that said, wait here.
Asura approached the guards and
began talking to them; they just stood there and looked forward. Kain thought to himself, "At least they're
very well trained guards. This guardian
isn't as much of a total idiot as I thought, who ever he is." Asura bounced her hair and then put her
finger in her mouth in order to look innocent, but nothing appeared to be
working. Then Asura took out her sword
from her belt and hacked both of them through the middle, in about a quarter of
a second; they both collapsed on the spot. On of the secretaries at the desk
heard something and thus glanced over to see what had happened. Though Dawne was one step ahead of the
scream that was about to be sent out and shot a bolt of electricity straight
though the secretary who was about to notice them and then another bolt flew
from her hands at the other secretary. The other two guards noticed this and rushed out of their doorway. Both took automatic pistols out from their
backs and began to fire shots at Kain. At that point Kain's spear came from the back of his trench coat. And then he lunged himself towards the two
guards, though he lunged without the powers of the wind, a great mistake. Kain was expecting two kill the two very
fast, he was wrong. Both of the guards
dropped their guns and with the speed and dexterity of an Elbanian, began to
deflect and dodge Kain's jabs and thrusts. Both began to attack Kain, and each scored hits on him, hits that did
damage to Kain somehow through his armor; luckily though his armor did not
shatter from the punches and kicks sent at him. Kain came at the two with everything he had, but to no
avail. Each time he tried to strike
they would parry and counter strike. Kain then leaped back out of the fray to the side of the room. He hit the wall and then with the force of
the north winds behind him, he leaped across the room and his spear point was
thrust straight through one of the gray men's skull. Suddenly the second gray man's face twisted and contorted in
pain. With such a nice distraction,
Kain used the butt of his spear to crack open the second gray man's face. Blood began to pool everywhere in the
room. Kain looked behind him at Dawne,
first he noticed that Asura was gone; second he noticed that Dawne's jaw had dropped. "Their are men that have skills as great as mine, Dawne, it's
nothing you should be surprised about." Especially men who have been trained in the arts of the paladin, such as
these men were, Kain thought to himself. "Come on though we have to go, somehow these paladin's can feel each
others deaths."
Kain approached Dawne as she opened
the door in front of her. Inside of the
room were row upon row of offices, not really offices though, they were much
smaller and they didn't connect to the ceiling; also, they only looked as
though they were temporary structures. Kain looked around the room, trying to find an elevator that would lead
him to the top floors of the Tower. Suddenly a set of doors opened at the other end of the room and four
gray men stepped out. "Crap." Kain said relatively silently.
The four gray men noticed Kain and
Dawne, and ran to get closer to them. Dawne knew exactly what she needed to do;
as such she began her arcanic ritual. "Ygen grenn di halisogrosa, naga." With the last word let loose she thrust both of her hands at the four
men coming towards them. Kain thought
he had recognized those words, and he was right. Suddenly, the four gray man flashed green for less then a second
and then they slowed down from run to jog, then from jog to walk, then they
collapsed on the floor. Kain watched
with an iron stomach as the bodies of the four gray men were slowly being
devoured from the inside out. Kain
looked at Dawne and said. "Quickly to
the elevators before they close." And
Kain and Dawne ran to the elevators on the other side of the room. Running past the grays that were slowly, but
surly being eaten alive by a form of virus that Kain himself had experienced
thanks to Zeromus, and Kain did not wish to contract that again. When Kain and Dawne finally reached he
elevator the entered inside of it just as the doors closed.
Kain pressed the button that said 95
on it, wondering if that was the top floor or not. Then Dawne looked at him and
said. "I wonder why no one was inside
of those office cubes."
Looking at her Kain responded. "I think I did see a few people as a ran by,
but the cubes weren't filled your right."
"What day of the week is it Kain?"
Suddenly Kain realized that he
really had no idea what day it was, or month, or really even the year for that
matter. He had been so preoccupied with
his plans that he had never even asked. "Sense almost no one was in there I would suppose it's Sat Day, or Sun
Day, but really I have no idea."
"Hmm." Was all the response Dawne could give before the elevator doors
opened with a nice ding.
The room that the elevator door
opened into was another waiting room, where a large desk sat with one, very old
woman behind it. Before Kain approached
the old secretary he spook silently to Dawne. "See if you can't disable the elevator so that no reinforcements end up
bothering us." Dawne nodded as she
turned around and began a silent chant.
Kain looked at the secretary and
nearly shouted. "What lies beyond those
doors?"
The secretary, who had been writing
something down this entire time, didn't even look up as she said. "If you're up here, then you should know."
"I don't have time for games, old
hag. Now tell me or I shall send your
skin to a tanner's hut." The woman
looked up and her face showed confusion as well as though it had already been
handed to a tanner's, then though Kain remembered that a tanner today was much
different from a tanner 750 years ago. "Just tell me." Kain said
sounding quite fatigued.
"The Guardian's private
shrine." She said.
Dawne, who had just come behind
Kain, said in his ear. "I'd bet
anything the crystal of shadows is behind that door."
Kain nodded and then came even
closer to the old woman and pulled her up to his face by the scruff of her
collar. "If you do nothing for the next
half hour, you get to live." She nodded
and Kain went to the double doors and opened them, with quite the dramatic
flare.
Inside, the room was completely
black. There was light in the room
coming from two braziers that had an eerie dark colored flame coming out though
that light didn't seem to matter. All
of the walls, the ceiling, the floor, were completely black. Kain could see that in the very back of the
room was a very high dais, and on the dais a crystal hovered above the
black. Kain walked a few steps into the
room though he noticed that Dawne wasn't following him; he turned around to see
what was wrong though Kain could see the expression on her face and that meant
that she was no longer in the conscience room. After about a second though she came to and said. "Kain I have to go now, Naxos is calling
me. I talked with him; he told
me... I have to go now Kain, I'll see
you in a bit, hopefully." With that
Dawne began to wink in and out of existence, and then she was gone.
Suddenly Kain felt more alone then
he had ever felt in his life, completely surrounded by the blackness sent
shivers down his spine. "This place
feels, so, unholy. I wonder if even
Cecil's sacredness could pierce the darkness of this room?" Kain wondered to himself. Then he walked slowly to the dais in the
center of the room.
Without warning the twin doors that
opened to the room closed with surprising force. Kain could feel dark energies afoot in this place, and it was not
just the blackness any more. Kain
continued toward the crystal, knowing that he needed to concentrate on the task
at hand in order to keep calm. All that
mattered now was the crystal.
The closer Kain was to the crystal
the more he could feel the darkness, the unholy power. It was like a whirlpool in the center of the
dais trying to swallow him up. He could
feel it now trying to attack his mind. Trying to do what had already been done to him. Trying to convert him once again to the
darkness, convert him away from his friends, convert him so that he could
become that Kain the betrayer. He
wouldn't let that happen though! Kain
summoned up every once of fury, rage, hatred, and ferocity that he had left
within him and he continued toward the dais. Every step closer to the dais was bringing him one more step closer to
insanity, or betrayal, or maybe both. All that mattered though was the crystal.
Kain's vision began to blur as he
reached the first step up to the dais. "Three more to go." He said with
grim determination hanging deep with his voice. As his vision blurred it began to fade. Now not even the braziers that radiated the dark flame behind the
dais gave off light. They had been
extinguished! No... Kain realized he
was just going blind, that's all. Then
he was blind. All that mattered though
was the crystal.
Two more steps to go, Kain
thought. Suddenly Kain could hear less
and less of the fires behind the dais. Until he could not hear them at all. A voice of doubt appeared at the back of his mind. "Ready to give up Kain? Is accomplishing this goal worth loosing
your senses over? Is it really worth
loosing your mind over? Or betraying
your friends again? WELL! IS IT!?" The voice cried out, but Kain silenced it. He was not going to give up! All that mattered was the crystal.
One more step and he could reach the
crystal he knew that was true, he knew it was. Suddenly air became harder and harder to breath, he tried to gulp all of
the air that he could and put it into his lungs. But, it was like trying to breath at the top of mountains. So little air was up there. Though this was worse, there was less and
less air. Kain could tell now that
there was none. The voice came back to
him "NOW YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! YOU WON'T EVEN MAKE IT TO THE CRYSTAL,
YOU'LL SUFFOCATE ON YOUR WAY THERE IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? TO DIE COLD, ALONE, AND IN THE
DARKNESS. YOU ARE A WARRIOR DAMN
IT. YOU DESERVE TO DIE LIKE ONE. NOT JUST TO SHRIVEL UP, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T
BREATH!" Kain tried with every once of
his will to ignore the voice. All that
mattered was the crystal.
Kain reached the last step before
the crystal, now all that he had to do was reach up and take it. Suddenly he could not feel his left leg, and
then his right. He could tell he could
tell they were still there, or else he would have fallen to the ground, but
they were just not there, out of his mind. His left arm was suddenly gone, and then his right. Then Kain's torso suddenly winked out too,
and then his neck, and finally he could no longer even feel that his head was
there. "KNOW YOU ARE DEAD." The voice inside his head mocked him. "DON'T YOU GET IT? GIVE UP, GO BACK! LIVE! YOUR LIFE IS ALL THAT
MATTERS NOW! TURN AROUND AND GO
BACK! GO BACK AND LIVE, STAY AND
DIE!" Kain would not listen to that
voice he couldn't, too many people. Kain could still think though, he sent a message to his arms that
weren't there to reach up and grab the crystal that he could not see, and even
if he did retrieve it, he wouldn't even be able to feel. All that mattered was the crystal.
Suddenly everything returned to
Kain, he looked at the crystal of shadows tucked in his arms like a baby in its
mothers. Kain began to wonder what had
happened, was it a shadow created by the crystal to protect itself from
Kain. No it couldn't have been. Someone had to have triggered the crystal
for it to do anything, everyone knew that. Kain turned around, he wanted to run to the doors and get out of the
Tower, any way he could. As he turned
around though he noticed the doors were still closed, that had not been part of
the shadow. Now though someone stood
before the doors, someone as dark as the room itself.
"Those who write
reviews shall be Karmicly rewarded."
-Kain DeLuman